Top seeds Pankaj Advani of India and Mohammad Asif of Pakistan started their campaign on a winning note at the 32nd Asian Snooker Championship, which began at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Academy yesterday. Last year’s runner-up and top seed Advani began with a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia’s Sulaiman Almisfer. Advani defeated Almisfer in straight frames 82-26, 81-06,76-23,70-15 with breaks of 67 and 69 in the second and fourth frames respectively.
Advani was pleased to start the championship with a victory. “I am delighted to have got off to a winning start. Now I am focused on working towards a similar score-line for all my group matches,” the Indian ace said.
The winner of the championship in Qatar will be eligible to play on the Pro Circuit. Last year, Hamza Akbar of Pakistan won the event, defeating Advani in the final, and is now part of the Pro Circuit.Also winning yesterday was Asif, the 34-year-old from Faisalabad. The former winner of the World Amateur Snooker Championship defeated Khaled Alastal of Palestine 4-0.
The hosts had something to cheer about as three cueists Ali Alobaidli, Ahmed Saif and Mohsen Bukshaisha finished in the winning bracket on the opening day of the championship.In total, eight Qatari players are in action. Around 60 players from 20 countries are participating in the biggest snooker event in Asia. The players have been divided into 12 groups for the preliminary rounds.
All the league matches up to the pre-quarters stage will be best of 7 frames while the quarter-finals and the semi-finals will be best of 9 frames. The final will be played on
Saturday, April 23 at 11:00 am and will be a best of 11 frames affair.
The winner of the event will get $3,500 and the runner-up $1,750. The losing semi-finalists will collect $500 each.
The organisers have also have line up cash awards for the highest break and maximum break. The cueman with the highest break (over 100 pts) will pocket $500 and those with maximum break  (above 147) is set to go home with $1,750.